by Dallas Hull, Volusia YF&R chairperson
In the month of September, the Volusia County Young Farmers and Ranchers Leadership Program held their first of many farm tours yet to come. September’s farm tour was graciously hosted and expertly run by Troy Rentz, president and owner of Gold Coast Land Management Company in DeLand. Volusia YF&R members and others from across the state made their way to GCLM’s mitigation banking project site in Daytona Beach. Mitigation banking is a state-sanctioned practice where a public or private company performs environmental enhancement, restoration and preservation of degraded uplands or wetlands.
In attendance were YF&R members from Volusia County and across the state as well as representatives from the Volusia County property appraisers office, Bio-Tech Consulting Inc.- an environmental consulting firm, Gator Timber and Land, LLC, Colin Gordon, GCLM vice president and a registered forester/arborist, as well as special guest Volusia County Councilman Danny Robbins (District 3).
Many in the Volusia County area were impacted in the late 1990’s by devastating forest fires. This particular track of land, which is approximately 2,000 acres, was completely burned and charred, needing complete restoration. As described in the tour, the Florida Forestry Service in the early 2000’s replanted trees in the area as they tried to restore the land. Currently, this track of land is now managed by GCLM and is considered by many as the poster child of a successful restoration. This track of land is not only unique due to its history of disaster and restoration, but is one of the largest tracks of land in the state of Florida turned into a mitigation banking project, which would be nearly impossible to recreate in another location. As the net function of wetlands cannot be reduced in this country, mitigation banking and proper land management has never been more of a hot topic than it is now.
As the tour began to cover topics such as hydrology, tree genetics, natural disaster possibilities, weather and even market fluctuations, it is clear to see that there are many similar characteristics of this project to other farms and ranches in Volusia County.
“While you may not think of this as your typical farm, what we do here impacts farms positively,” said Rentz.
Our Volusia County YF&R members and guests not only enjoyed listening to the first-class line up assembled to speak during the tour, but also came with questions that were answered by some of the industry leaders and experts present.
“It was exciting to see all the interest by the Farm Bureau members. We were honored to host this event and excited to see tomorrow’s leaders grow,” said Rentz.
Rentz is a long-standing Volusia County Farm Bureau member. Since joining, he has diversified his business portfolio in a plethora of agriculture commodities, agritourism, mitigation banking and land management. As president and owner of GCLM, Rentz helps landowners maximize the highest and best-end use for their properties. The firm currently manages over 35,000 acres of land in Northeast Florida. But their busy schedule did not stop Rentz and his team from taking time out of their day to speak to Volusia YF&R members.